“Gongfu! I’m definitely guilty of underestimating how much the leaves of this heicha would expand once I started brewing, and of subsequently really overloading my gaiwan. Despite a few intense...” Read full tasting note
Liubao heicha, also known as dark tea, a post fermented tea from Guangxi province in China.
This laochapo was a commisioned production of the late autumn, early winter coarse leaf style popular in Liubao. This version was roasted and has a smokey edge from the flame that will age with a different character from our 2021 Chapo.
This tea can be brewed gongfu style with long steeps or even simmered to release the flavors from the older leaves and stems. A very rustic style of tea, some of the bricks may have naturally occurring jinhua(eurotium cristatum), as well as all manner of odd bits one can expect in a rural, lower grade heicha.
Not the typical mass produced and pile fermented dark liubao. Raw may be a misnomer, but calling it green doesn’t quite seem right either, and some folk have even suggested this tea qualify as a yellow tea or some hybrid unfermented heicha. In China people often call it nongjia or farmer style, though it is rarely sold on the open market due to small production sizes and lack of proper accreditation. You will find similarities in this tea that spans genres – green tea, yellow tea, heicha, raw Puer – there is a reason you can’t pin it down easily.
Each brick is ~500g of tea, pressed in late 2021.
Company description not available.